blue sky z 11-14-2010

Returned to racing single speed cross at the Blue Sky (or not) race in Euclid. I like it much better than using a junky hodge podge sis setup. The course was well balanced, switch backs, a spiral of death, some technical mazey turns, mud, a hill run up, some long power sections and lots of off camber stuff. At Blue Sky I reached a few personal firsts

• successfully and repeatedly remounting of the bike by doing the jump and land your bum on the saddle technique, instead of the normal stagger and throw one leg over
• first top 10 finish this season
• first time I raced with 'low' tire pressure around 35 psi I assume, I didn't have any tool to measure
• firs post race puke.. this season

the low tire pressure made all the difference in the world! no joke. Forever I blew off riding low pressure as a fallacy and myth. Was I ever wrong. Go figure the Ritchey Speedmax tires which I have so often cursed worked wonders when properly inflated...

the saddle jump was something I didn't do on every remount but I made it on several. That too makes a world of difference. My typical technique is that if I'm near (within a 1/4 or so of the course) an approaching set of barriers is to just hang back behind the group that I'm trying to catch and then go full tilt into the barriers do a running like a bat out of hell dismount to pass everyone. Adding the saddle jump just made the only thing I'm fast at doing even faster. awesome.

puking sucked but the last time I made top ten in a race I booted it as well.

Even though I hit the deck probably four times throughout the race I felt great never gassed or unable to catch my breath, and passed tons of racers (for once). Only one person passed me after I had wrecked and gotten myself tangled in the tape, subsequently spending the rest of the race trying to unsuccessfully catch him. Needless he finished 14 seconds ahead of me, about the time I spent in the tape. I don't know what the secret was this race. I felt and rode great and it seemed like the majority of the field was just the opposite. I'm gonna call this one luck, I think some of the top B series racers were no shows and everyone else just had a bad start or something ... i dunno

interestingly enough this race I finished 4 minutes and 24 seconds behind the lead and took 9 place in a field of 44, and in the kent stark race I also finished 4 minutes and 24 seconds behind the lead but took 22 out of a field of 44.

kirtland park cx

I never heed my own advice. Three weeks ago I decided to wash the mud off my cyclocross bike and hang it up for the season. Several days went by, and in those days I enjoyed the luxuries of a lazy non athletic life catching up on teevee, reading books I've been meaning to read, finally repotting some plants, and spending some much needed time with the g/f. With the exception of the daily jog I had pretty successfully made the transition to being sedentary, and was looking forward to some winter weight gain. However this did not last. By Wednesday of last week I decided that Kirtland Park would be my last hurrah! I didn't have much time in between Wednesday and Sunday to ride, and hadn't been on my bike since Halloween's CX race/alleycat boner-jam-a-thon. So I just focused on running, and decided I'd do the C race and call it quits.
Sunday morning creeps in, and my parents are on the phone with a sudden need to come see me race. I oblige them, and though I was planning on riding to the course, (since I only live a few miles away) they insist on picking me up. I inherently know my Dad will be late, so I preempt this by telling him to show at 10:30 (the C race being at 12); He then silently calls my preemption and rolls up to my apartment at 12:05. Which I can't complain too much about because I knew deep down that I should be doing the B race anyways; though I wouldn't be much of a contender I shouldn't cheat myself of the experience. So we get to the course, and I run over to register while my mom and dad get my bike out and walk it over. My dad is pretty quick to point out that not only do I have the muddiest bike at the race its most likely to oldest, and least geared. I insisted that I prefered the spartan single speed to the complexity of gear-tastrophe shifter, and then made a rather honest joke about not being able to afford that kind of set up anyways. This was then demonstrated almost case in point by comparing a nearby junior's cx bike that was for sale for $300, to my centurion tourer which I bought for $40 and "upgraded" it with a cheap ass pair of ritchey cx tires. I then warned my parents that this race was most likely going to resemble the races of my highschool cross country days where I was consistently in an all out battle not to finish last.

Lets skip to the race. It went pretty well, I didn't bonk in this as I had in the spin race, and I didn't wreck like in PA, and I didn't toss my chain like a Wendy park, but I was by no means quick. I think I benefited largely from the three potential run ups two of them stair cases, and the third was the terrace short double hill which I would ride of the first half but the second part included a short climb and a left hand turn, which were beyond my caliber. None the less the jogging had proved to be beneficial and it was in these areas where I many times dismounted and made my way up a place or two. On the final lap of the race I decided it was do or die time so after the final harrowing east end descent I kicked it in to the highest spin rpm I could manage and held that as long as possible. Unfortunately I think I caught more A class racers who were warming up then B class finishers. This overdrive sprint took my stomach for a whirl where I shortly after finishing proceeded to paint the ground with my breakfast. All in all, a fun time though. And it was nice to have people there cheering for you.

About thirty minutes after the B race I was sitting with Jay Karp. on a bench watching the A's mercilessly tear up the course which had not-so-long-ago given me a reaming. Mesmerized by their speed I whimsically stated that next year I would buy a license and next year I'd train every day instead of twice a week, and next year I'd race the whole series, and next year I'd get a real bike. Dan Polito. was quick to respond with "What do you mean? you already have a real f*in' bike!"



other notes: Turns out my parents know someone on the bike authority team, I can't remember her name but seems like she had something to do with coordinating the race.

and I took 10th place. a season best